EMOTIONS RUN HIGH ON BOTH SIDES OF PET SHOP PROPOSAL

Ordinance advances
to S.D. City Council

A proposal to ban the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits at retail stores has triggered an emotional debate in the city of San Diego.

If it passes, San Diego would be the 32nd city in North America to ban such sales in response to criticism of how animals are treated in commercial dog-breeding facilities — also referred to as puppy mills — that supply many pet stores. Similar ordinances have been adopted in Los Angeles and Chula Vista.

The intense passions over the issue were on full display Wednesday during a heated hearing before a City Council committee, which voted unanimously to send the ordinance to the full council.

Animal rights advocates supported the proposal, decrying what they called the inhumane treatment of pets at puppy mills. Pet shop owners and workers defended how they treat animals and at least one said the ban was being pushed by “far-left crazies.”

Elizabeth Oreck, who runs the national puppy mill initiative campaign for Best Friends Animal Society, said that the operations are in business to supply pet stores, so while not every community has a puppy mill, every community has a pet store that carries the byproduct of them.

“We do not want to see pet stores close,” she said. “We just want to see those stores stop supporting the cruelty of puppy mills by importing these poorly and inhumanely bred animals into the community where they frequently become ill and thus become everyone’s problem when they’re surrendered to our overcrowded, taxpayer-subsidized shelters.”

David Salinas, owner of San Diego Puppy, a pet shop in Grantville, said he is a moral and ethical person who takes great pride in taking care of his animals despite what he called the slanderous accusations of ordinance supporters.

“Puppy mill dogs do not produce healthy puppies,” he said. “We have healthy puppies and I need to declare that. You guys need to understand that. And you guys are invited to look at the distributor and our breeders at our expense. Go out there and take a look for yourselves firsthand.”

The goal of the pet store ordinance is to discourage the transport of animals from commercial facilities and encourage the adoption of homeless animals from local shelters and rescue organization.

Under the ordinance, no pet store can display, sell, deliver, offer for sale, barter, auction, give away or otherwise transfer or dispose of companion animals in the city. Existing pet stores would have to stop such activity within six months. Those stores would still be able to offer adoptions of dogs, cats and rabbits in partnership with a shelter or rescue group akin to what Petco currently does.

There are exceptions for people who breed and rear animals on their own premises as well as for publicly operated shelters and nonprofit rescue organizations.

Violating the ordinance would be a misdemeanor with a $250 fine for the first offense, $500 for the second and $1,000 for the third and subsequent violations.

Advocates of the ordinance said puppy mills produce 5 million puppies annually and supply 99 percent of all puppies sold in U.S. pet stores. They accuse mills of over-breeding, inbreeding, lax veterinary care, poor food and shelter, crowded cages and lack of socialization, all of which can lead to health and behavioral problems.

Dr. Bill Oxford, director of veterinary services with Hunte Corp., the world’s largest professional pet distributor, defended his company’s treatment of animals and ability to weed out disreputable breeders.

“We have a huge number of fail-safes in our system — data collection, interaction with the USDA to make real-time decisions on breeders that have violations,” he said. “We pride ourselves on animal welfare and doing everything we can to get the bad breeders out and keep the responsible breeders going.”

Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who chairs the public safety committee that considered the ordinance Wednesday, called it an important issue that needed to be addressed.

“This is not just an animal rights issue or an animal safety issue,” she said. “This is an important consumer issue because the minute we buy a puppy and take it home and the family falls in love with it and then you find out it’s sick from some congenital problem, you wind up spending thousands of dollars on an animal that’s going to pass (away). … There’s a market and we need to change the paradigm.”

The ordinance is supported by several animal rights groups, including the San Diego Animal Defense Team, Companion Animal Protection Society, San Diego Humane Society and the San Diego Animal Welfare Coalition.